Sweet Summertime!

Since Kate is already out for the summer, and I'm off work on Tuesday, and Brett is still in school, she and I took advantage of an un-planned day and went to the Museum of Life & Science. There are a ton of pictures, but this one just cracked me up. I'll upload the rest later :)

 

Preschool Graduation

It still hasn't hit me yet - my baby is done with preschool. Seriously. How did that happen?! The last 4 years have flown by! Well, 3 years for Kate, plus Brett's 1st year... 4 years total (6 years worth of classes). Words cannot describe how much I loved these three women. They took a classroom of 17 hyperactive 4 year olds and turned them into these little people who are already for Kindergarten. And I've seen them do it twice now! They are truly amazing. I cannot imagine a school year without their smiling faces and tons of hugs - and that's just for the parents! They're equally great with the kids!

Our Preschool Graduate, parading in with her class

The Ocean Friends

The Director has been there for 20 years (she opened this preschool) - she and the Assistant Director are both retiring this year!  We'll miss you, Ms. Nancy and Ms. Denise!

Watching their slideshow from this past year - bittersweet.

Kate accepting her diploma from Ms. Aimee

Congrats, Ocean Friends!

I think they wanted to dig in!

So proud of herself!

Hugs for Ms. Aimee...

...and Ms. Kris...

...And Ms. Mili!  We'll miss you next year!

Our big girl!

Birthday, the end!

Whew - the end of the birthday posts for this guy! Here is a re-cap of his actual birthday!  It started with morning prayer at school - bright and early, 8:05 sharp!  He was the only birthday kid that day, so he got to run up there all by himself to get his pencil and handshake from the Assistant Principal.  He was SO excited to go up in front of the entire school.  I'm pretty sure that would've terrified me at that age!

1. Shaking hands with Mrs. Northington (Asst. Principal) while the Principal and other Assistant Principal looked on.  2.  Running as fast as he could when his name was called.  3.  Praying with his class at Morning Prayer

After morning prayer, it was off to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences for the morning with all of the Kindergarteners!  This was my awesome little group :)

Waiting is such hard work with you're only 5 or 6, but this group was great!  Brett was definitely hamming it up with all of the girls!

Brett and Mommy back at home, ready to celebrate his birthday one more time!

Can you say, "Excited?!"

We already did cupcakes for his party, and donuts for his school celebration, so I let him pick out a giant cookie cake (pre-decorated) at the grocery store.  I think his only specification was that it had to have a LOT of frosting.  And boy did it ever!!

I still cannot believe this kid is 6!  He has matured so much this year - he started Kindergarten, learned to tie his own shoes, learned to read, learned to write, learned to add and subtract, learned to count money, among many other things.  He is so sweet and inquisitive, and is a great big brother to Kate (most of the time)!   Happy 6th Birthday, Brett!  We love you!

Class Birthday

Brett's actual birthday was on a Thursday, but they were going on a field trip that day, so his teacher asked me to pick a different day to celebrate his birthday with his school friends. So we picked Wednesday... I brought in 2 dozen sprinkle donuts and he got to dress out in whatever he wanted. What a happy happy boy!!

Happy Birthday - eat more chicken!  I {heart} Kindergarten!

Preschool Field Day

The last week of preschool was crammed full of fun activities for Kate's class!! Tuesday was field day with 3 of the 5 classes of 4 year olds. They used to have a water day, which was just completely chaotic, but this was much better - like organized chaos. That I can handle :) The kids all did great and had a great time :)

2012 Ocean Friends

Kate and her friend, Camden

Romper Stompers

Harder than it looks

What kid doesn't love the parachute?!

I'm pretty sure it's cheating if you hold the egg on :)

Tons of bubbles

Bean bag toss

Of course we had a few water games - it was HOT!

Camp 6 Rocks!

The biggest event over the last couple weeks was Brett's 6th birthday! Seriously, how did this kid already turn 6?! How is he almost done with Kindergarten? Time is flying by, that's for sure! We went back and forth trying to decide what to do to celebrate his birthday. Then he said he wanted a fire pit party. Really?! That's it? I think that's what I said. So, we let him build his list (with selective editing), and let him invite his friends AND their families, which means we had a LOT of people here to celebrate his birthday. I think it was 52 to be exact. I'm sure you're asking why on Earth I invited so many people... yeah, we had more adults than kids. Let me tell you, it might've been the easiest party I've pulled off yet! It was so much fun and the kids had a BLAST! Some of them had never made s'mores before. Seriously. In real life. Where have they been?! Clearly not at our house in the spring, summer, and fall!  (I'm a southern girl - I don't do winter.)

Happy 6th Birthday, Brett!!  (Please excuse our disaster of a deck - it's going to be torn down very soon for a nice new 4 season porch!)

1. Fun signs "Giant Marshmallow S'mores!"  Idea courtesy of TSJ Photography.  2.  More signs, Camp Milkshake Campground - we've called him Milkshake since he was a baby, thanks to the Hardee's commercial and "My Milkshake is Better than Yours!"  3.  Bug Juice, idea from Haute Apple Pie  4.  Part of the party favors - S'more for Later - another brilliant idea from Haute Apple Pie!  I wrapped these up with a flashlight for each kid, but totally forgot to take a picture.  They looked similar to the idea from Kelle Hampton . 5.  Delicious, cheap, easy cupcakes - grocery store cupcakes with a piece of chocolate and a mini graham cracker in each one... idea courtesy of Haute Apple Pie, again!  6. A few snacks, idea from Tom Kat Studio.  7. Happy 6th Birthday Brett banner - idea from Moore Minutes

I found this awesome t-shirt (J. Crew Kids) at a local kids' consignment shop for dirt cheap!  Score!  If you're ever in town, check out Uptown Kids Consignment!

When you gotta go, you gotta go!

Lighting the fire with dad

They can be so sweet sometimes!

Good meal, good friends!

Treasure hunt time - these girls were fierce!

Time to blow out the candles!

He huffed and he puffed... and he needed a little help ;)

A little extra sugar is always a good thing!

Roasting marshmallows for their s'mores

Concentrating hard to not burn the marshmallows

These two goofballs have been friends since they were 3!  We love that family!

My mom and her girls!

The tent was a huge hit with the kids!

And they even flipped it over!  Whoops!  The dad in the picture had nothing to do with flipping the tent... he was helping them get it back upright.

The little siblings and big siblings had fun too!

A game of hoops

Another happy little sibling

Dads versus kids - which dad will get hurt first?!

He was so tired that night, that he actually waited until the next morning to open presents.  Thanks to everyone who came out to help celebrate Brett's 6th Birthday!  We had a blast :)